Ethics Center celebrates 20 years of sharing expert knowledge and innovative research with Silicon Valley and the world

Celebrating 20 Years in Words and Pictures

A History of the Center: Remarks by Kirk O. Hanson

Watch the video of the 20th anniversary celebration (QuickTime) (Windows Media)

For the past two decades, The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, named for A.C. "Mike" Markkula Jr., co-founder of Apple Computer, has brought local and world leaders in business, politics, education, and health care to the university to examine and discuss some of the key ethical issues of our time. Students, faculty, and community members have benefited from these programs and gone on to share their experience with countless others. This month the Center will celebrates its success with a reception on campus.

"In a short 20 years, Santa Clara's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has grown into one of the world's leading voices on ethics. Silicon Valley, starting with Mike and Linda Markkula, has rallied to support the exploration of the most important ethical questions of the day. Santa Clara University, benefiting from its Jesuit tradition of education which enriches the whole person, has been able to address the thorniest ethical questions facing business, health care, schools, government, and other institutions. The Markkula Center is a resource for Silicon Valley, but also for the world," said Kirk Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center.

How the center came to be

Mike Markkula had been concerned for some time that the Silicon Valley was developing a generation of what he called ''ethical agnostics.'' In 1986, Markkula was the parent of an incoming freshman at SCU and while attending a parent orientation meeting he heard the dean of the college of arts and sciences talk about plans for an ethics center to enhance the role of ethics in the choices made by individuals and society. That sounded like it might just be a way to make a difference. Markkula offered to get involved.

With a seed grant from Mike and Linda Markkula and the leadership of SCU management professor Manuel Velasquez, one of the pre-eminent scholars in the business ethics field, the Markkula Center was launched later that year. Markkula served as the first chair of the center's advisory board.
The Markkula Center has become a nationally renowned resource for issues regarding business ethics, biotechnology and health care ethics, character education, global ethics, government ethics, technology ethics, and media ethics. Scholars at the center are frequently called upon by local and national media to comment on current events and ethical issues. The center also offers a number of campus programs and summer institutes or "camps" for politicians and teachers.

May 2007